Could Kovalev be a Good Fit for the Penguins?

*Feb 24th, 2011:  The Penguins have just picked up Alexei Kovalev for a 7th round draft pick.  The big question now is whether Craig Adams will give up his number so we can bring back the AK27.

There is a lot of talk right now about the Pens having interest in obtaining the services of Alexei Kovalev.  Many sources report this as a possibility.  Most people, who comment on the possibility, seem to think that it would not necessarily be a good thing.  They say he is past his prime and his numbers are not good.  This is true.  I would like to take the other side of the argument and propose it would be a good thing to do.

I must admit right of the bat that I am a huge fan off Alexei Kovalev.  I was very excited when the Pens acquired his services during the 98-99 season.  In my opinion, he was one of most exciting guys to watch play.  He has a remarkable ability to stickhandle and an equally impressive shot.  During his time in Pittsburgh, he put up some very good numbers.  He had 149 goals and 347 points in 345 games during his time in Pittsburgh. ...

Gameday Poop: Penguins vs Thrashers – Crosby for MVP

The NHL closes up the regular season tomorrow and the playoff race in the Eastern conference is no where near settled. The Penguins can finish anywhere from second to fourth and there are three teams not named the Penguins fighting for their playoff lives.

Pens winger Alexei Ponikarovsky has been suspended by the NHL for two games for boarding Josh Bailey of the NY Islanders on Thursday night, Kunitz will miss the game also tonight with a suspected shoulder injury. Talbot and Rupp will be seeing time on Malkin’s line and Eric Godard will also be skating for the Penguins this evening. Once again, I would post lines, but Bylsma will mix them up after 5 minutes anyway.

NBC seems to have made a big mistake scheduling the Washington Capitals vs Boston Bruins game tomorrow afternoon. The New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers, two of the NHL’s biggest markets will be battling it out in a winner take all scenario that has the winner getting a playoff spot and the loser heading out to the golf course.

The Penguins organization was pressing the NHL to have the All-Star Game played at their new home the Consol Energy Center next year but lost out to the Carolina Hurricanes. I think it would be a bit much and the NHL would be showing favoritism if the ALL-Star Game in Winter Classic were held in Pittsburgh in the same year.

If the Pens end up finishing in fourth place, they will be facing the Ottawa Senators in the playoffs.  The Senators just announced ex-Penguin Alexei Kovalev who is 4th on the Senators in overall scoring will be sidelined the rest of the season and playoffs with a torn ACL.

Sidney Crosby is locked in a goal scoring race with Ovechkin and Steven Stamkos. Ovechkin has 50, Crosby 49 and Stamkos 48. Crosby has 2 games left, Ovechkin and Stamkos each only have 1 game left.

Sidney Crosby is also battling for the Art Ross Trophy with Ovechkin and Henrik Sedin. Ovechkin has 109, Sedin 108 and Crosby 104. Crosby has a game in hand over both Sedin and Ovechkin.

Sidney Crosby is also in the race for MVP. How many players in the NHL locked in the race for the prestigious goal scoring trophy, who got credit for a goal and with no video evidence otherwise, would contact the stats people and say he didn’t get the goal. Only 1, the leagues MVP Sidney Crosby the 100% unselfish team player who wanted to win the game against the Capitals the other night more than he cared if Ovechkin passed him up in goal scoring with an empty net goal.

Last year the Capitals fans all claimed Ovechkin deserved the MVP because he did not have a supporting cast around him. This year he all of the sudden has one of the best supporting casts around. A supporting cast so good, they have a higher winning percentage and goals scored per game when he is not playing.

Boy do I feel like a dufus. Last night I had the pleasure of meeting a gentleman named Bob Grove at ...

Gameday Poop: Pittsburgh Penguins vs Ottawa Senators – January 28

Game time is 7:00PM and can be seen in Super HD at the Igloo or on FSN 

The Pens take on the red hot Ottawa Senators who have won their last seven games in a row tonight. Maybe I should say the streaky Senators. Before they won seven in a row they lost 5 in a row.

When everyone was looking the other way the Senators double secretly amassed quite a lineup of goal scorers Alfredsson, Kovalev, Spezza & CheeChoo all of which have decided to not score goals this year. Now that the Senators are healthy, no thanks to the Penguins, they come at teams with a 4 line balanced attack. When your 3rd line has one time 56 goal scorer 29 year old Jonathan CheeChoo on it, that’s a balanced attack.

With all of the Penguins injuries, Goligoski, Talbot, Guerin, Kunitz, Kennedy and Godard. It would be hard to tell you exaclty who will be in this evening’s lineup but I can tell you that the Pens have penciled in Guerin, Talbot & Godard and the rest are not listed and I can also tell you that Godard, Goligoski and Kennedy did not practice this morning. 

Dan Bylsma announced that Godard is out 4-6 weeks with a groin injury.   I think the Olympic break is going to be huge towards getting a healthy team back on the ice.

Chris Connors was recalled again, they are bouncing him up and down to save cap money, it sounds like Shero is planning on making a move, though there is one other possibility.  I think Shero noticed that when he brings a player up from the WBS Pens they usually score their first game up, to take advantage of that he is trying to send them up and down in between every game. It could work. The odd thing is that  ...